I Believe in Cute Underwear

I believe in living in the moment, life is too short—and far too precious to waste. I believe in carpe diem, the time is now to do what you want with your life. Mostly however I believe in being yourself, being an individual, and living your life for you. I believe in cute underwear.

For some reason I often find myself in compromising situations. On a windy October day, I found myself in such a situation. I opened the classroom door into a jostling hallway, like most days, filled from wall to wall with people. As I stepped out into the midst of the crowd someone opened the double doors a ways behind me and the cold wind swept across the crowd. You must understand that on this particular day I was wearing a brand new outfit—one that I had decided was my new favorite—a rather peculiar apron dress that was very short, perhaps even too short to really be considered a dress in hindsight. When the wind blew across the crowd, it took my little dress with it, a brightly colored blur flapping in the wind. I immediately tried to push the dress back down in the front, which succeeded, but then I found that the back of the dress was blowing up too. I reached back to try and smooth down the back only have the front come up again! I finally decided that it was absolutely futile to try and do anything about it, so I shrugged and walked off with a little hop to my next class, dress blowing up behind me. I did not think “Oh dear who saw that?!” or “My life is ruined this is horrible!” As I walked away down the hall, with most of myself exposed no doubt, I thought, rather pleased with myself, “Good thing I’m wearing cute underwear.” Perhaps it is because I am an extreme optimist, or perhaps it is just because I have some very cute underwear.

It doesn’t really matter what other people think so long as you’re happy. Living your life according to the expectations of others is a life gone unlived. Individuality is imperative; don’t be afraid to embrace who you are, the moment is yours and you can do what you want with it, share it—cherish it. Living your life in the moment means taking the bad things in stride, and giving all you’ve got to everything you do. It means enjoying the little things. It means, flaunting your underwear when you’ve got too. You have to say what you mean today, because knowing how way leads on to way, on this twisted path we call life, you may not be able to say it tomorrow. So put on your cutest underwear and face the world.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.